A PREAMBLE TO Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker

As I write this I'm 4 hours from my showtime.  I've never been more anxious about a Star Wars film in my life of Star Wars fandom. Trying as hard as I might, I still could not avoid seeing trailers, posters and, worst of all, review headlines, none of which have eased my anxiety at all.  Even by comparison to Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, where I had resigned myself to the dodgy status of the prequels, I was just ready for it to be over, hoping for some semblance of a turnaround.  I took what I could from RotS and enjoyed it for what it was, warts and all.

The difference between Episode III and Episode IX however is that this isn't one person's vision for Star Wars.  This isn't one person's plan of action.  As such we enter into a conclusion to a Saga that is more guesswork than planning.  Not that George Lucas ever really had a plan, mind you, and it's not like the proposed sequel trilogy Lucas had sketched out sounded at all like anything anyone wanted to see.

I love Episode VIII, but I understand those who don't like it (ignoring the trolls, who are 95% Russian bots we now know).  You didn't get what you wanted out of it.  Perhaps you missed that that was the point, and if you didn't then maybe you see it as a slap in the face.  I said of The Last Jedi:

To be honest I was wondering if The Last Jedi was going to flame me out on Star Wars, too samey-samey, repeating patterns, but it's done the opposite. It's reinvigorated my fandom, made me see that what's still ahead of me is the possibility of surprise.

I was still very excited for the potential of Star Wars until Star Wars Celebration 2019 when they revealed the title of the film, Rise of Skywalker, and the trailer which indicated Emperor Palpatine was returning.  My gut sank.  Rather than take the gift Johnson had given them, the liberation and freedom to move forward, the film seems to be circling back upon itself, an ouroboros. 

The problem was, The Last Jedi divided audiences the way everything divides everyone these days.  Rise of Skywalker from it's title and first trailer obviously is an attempt to appeal to everyone, and, as the adage goes, an attempt to appeal to everyone appeals to no one. 

Say what you will about Episode VIII, it's a fairly singular vision.  It's Star Wars as filtered through Rian Johnson's lens.  I'm sure there was a bit of workshopping with Lucasfilm in the script writing process, but it's not a film-by-committee, and it's daring, risky...the sheer fact it pissed off so many people is testament to that.  But Rise of Skywalker is most certainly a film-by-committee.  The very thing the trolls (wrongfully) complained about The Last Jedi being, the Rise of Skywalker actually is.  It's a film that has a need to satisfy many things - it needs to wrap up this new trilogy, but it also needs to wrap up the nonology, and it needs to also try to reinstate trust in a Lucas-free Star Wars brand with as many people as possible, and it needs to make a ton of money and keep people excited for theme parks, comics, books, tv shows, video games and more. Of course it's going to be done by committee.  It's honestly too much to ask of a single film, and those review headlines I've been trying not to read seem to bear the ugly fruit of truth, that it's unsuccessful in doing so.

The thing I'm most anxious about Rise of Skywalker isn't the possible disappointment, though.  It's the trolls getting back to it online, damning the "Disney era", calling for Kathleen Kennedy's head, the bullshit "go woke/go broke" statements cowardly little alt-righters will chant.  They're a disease on the internet, a rash of negativity that you can't scratch away because it too deep rooted in the tissue.  That rash has nowhere to go, nothing else to do but sit and wait to aggravate you, waiting to push forth to the surface and spew their vile pus out into the world.  You can try to ignore it, but the itch will persist.  Hrm, maybe it's just my eczema talking. 

Regardless of what happens with Episode IX, Star Wars is still fine.  The Mandalorian is great and uniformly well received ("Baby Yoda" the breakout pop culture sensation of 2019), the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order video game seems to be going over well, and the comics and books continue to move along with varying levels of quality as they always have for the small subset of consumers who enjoy them.  We have more Clone Wars coming, more mini-series enhancing Rogue One and bringing Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi back.  You can possibly make a case that they've done Han, Luke and Leia a disservice, but you can't really say that Disney has completely mishandled Star Wars.  I think at this point they've delivered something new to the Star Wars universe for everyone, it's just that at this stage, with multi-generations of fandom coming into Star Wars from different angles, it's going to be hard for fans to agree on any single thing because of what appeals to them and why.  

That's what needs to be remembered, and considered by Disney going forward.  Not all Star Wars needs to be for all Star Wars fans.

On with the show.